Detroit pastors protest 'right to work' in Lansing

A small cluster of protesters oppose so-called “right-to-work” legislation outside the state Capitol on Saturday.

Rick Pluta/MPRN

Supporters and opponents of so-called “right-to-work” legislation are preparing for the coming week – and Tuesday’s expected votes by Republicans to send the bills to Governor Rick Snyder.

Today, a group of Detroit pastors traveled to the state Capitol in Lansing to speak out against the measures.

Turnout was light – only a couple dozen people gathered at the Capitol steps. But the Reverend Charles Williams the Second of the King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit says they’ll be back on Tuesday, when thousands of people are expected to show up.

“And our faith will do the talking on Tuesday,” says Williams, “We’ll be walking. And we’ll be protesting, demonstrating, hopefully sending a message to the Legislature, letting them know that we’re not going to stand for ‘right to work’ in Michigan.”

Williams says he hopes the protests will help change some minds, but “right to work” opponents are already developing their strategies for after Tuesday’s votes. “Right to work” supporters say they’re doing the same.

“We have legislators who are out of touch with everyday people,” says Reverend Maurice Rudds, with the Greater Mount Tabor Church, “They assume they know what everyday people need, what working-class people need. But ‘right to work’ is terrible. ‘Right to work’ will push us back at least 50 years.”

Rudd says Governor Rick Snyder and legislative Republicans are ignoring what happened in November, when Democrats outpolled Republicans. Although there’s also polling that suggests a majority of Michiganders are open to a so-called “right-to-work” law.

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If you were writing a novel about politics, you couldn’t make this up. Last month a Democratic President was re-elected, easily carrying Michigan by almost half a million votes.

The same day, the state’s voters reelected a liberal Democratic Senator by almost a million votes, and Democrats gained seats in the legislature. Exactly one month to the day later, this same state passed laws destroying the union shop, and making Michigan a right to work state.

Did I think I would ever see this in my lifetime? Absolutely not. But then, I never counted on a black president, General Motors going bankrupt, or Pontiac going out of business.

We live in momentous times. And in the Michigan legislature, last week was a time of lawmaking at breathtaking speed. If there has ever been a lame-duck session anything like this one, I certainly don’t know about it.

Putting aside for a second the backroom dealing, the protesters, the pepper spray and questions about the structural integrity of the state Capitol building, now might be a good time to address one of the fundamental question surrounding right-to-work legislation.

Do right-to-work laws create more jobs?

Governor Snyder says they do, pointing to Indiana as a recent example of right-to-work success.